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Monday, August 31, 2009

I had a request for a Doughnut and Elephant tutorial. I just made Jack's matching doughnut and I took pictures as I went along.

1. Trace out a pattern on to you fabric on the wrong side. I used two lids that were about 2 and 6 inches. If you want a fatter doughnut make the outer circle bigger and if you want a thinner doughnut make the inner circle bigger. 2. Pin and Cut

3. Cut your ribbons. I did 2in ribbons but you can decide if you want them longer. I used 12 ribbons for mine but if your ribbon is thicker or you want less or more then just lay them out till they look nice.

4. Fold the ribbons in half and pin them in place.

Your pin should look like this...

...so that when you are sewing you can pull them out easily as you go along.

5. Sew all the way around the outside.

6. Turn it right side out and sew the inner circle all the way leaving an inch or so for stuffing.

7. Stuff it and hand sew the opening shut. A chopstick is great for stuffing in to tight places:)

And there you have it! I think it would look really cute if you took yarn or embroidery thread and sewed the inside of the circle. I plan on doing that with this one but I need to go get some that matches:)

I followed this tutorial to make the Giraffes and then i thought it would be fun to make a little doughnut following the same idea as the Giraffe. The only thing I changed was the body. I made the head point out instead of arching down. I also made the body a little thicker from top to bottom, I just thought it looked better. I made the pink polka dot one for a friend who is having a girl and they turned out so cute that I just had to make a set for Jack!This is Jack's Giraffe and he LOVES it. He holds it around it's skinny little neck and chews on it till it is soaked in slobber(He's cutting his first tooth:) I couldn't stop there now could I... The Giraffe needed a friend! Enter, Mr. Elephant! Isn't he cute! Jack love the ears and this was so easy to make!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

I bought this train alphabet at the dollar store. It was in long strips so I cut them up. This is the first time I have ever done a letter activity that focused on the alphabet order. I started by asking Caden if he wanted to build a train? He was very excited and I spread the cards out face up on the floor. First we found the engine and then I would call out the letters and he would search for them. As he found them we would put them in order and then when it was complete we sang the abc song as Caden walked along the "tracks". Caden really enjoyed this and we are going to do it again for sure!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Caden learned how to use the mouse on the computer and he was so excited! We've always used the computer together but he would either use Baby Giggles or I would sit with him and do all of the mouse work! Star Fall is a fabulous website that Caden LOVES. If I didn't stop him he would play forever. He only does the letters section right now.

I know I have some LDS readers but I think Family Home Evening is something that families of any faith could do. We started a little tradition a few weeks ago of making pizza every Monday night! I've loved it so far. What we do is start by washing our hands and letting the boys put on all of the toppings. They get a little crazy but I think letting them build the pizza with healthy ingredients makes them more excited to eat it later. After we've built the pizza We put it in the oven and set the timer for 10 minutes. While the boys are still at the table we let one of them say the opening prayer, sing a song, and then me or Nate present a very short lesson from the Nursery Manual. The boys are so young so we keep the lesson really short and use a lot of props (puppets, pictures, songs, skits, games.) When the timer dings, we cut the pizza and eat dinner together and then we do something fun together as a family like making a home made toilet paper catapult!!

The way we make our Pizza is not the way I want to do it forever. I want to try and find ways to make a healthier crust. Right now we are using Pillsbury roll out sough because I got it on sale for really cheap! I want to learn to make my own crust and play with ways to get more veggies into the toppings.The pizza in the picture is mozzarella, spinach (chopped super fine and stirred in the sauce, Caden loves doing this part), red bell peppers, and black olives! I can't wait to try out some new veggie pizzas. If anyone has any ideas let me know:)

Here is my favorite picture from the catapult. It's me shooting the pop together vehicles. I love that you can see them all bunched together! Such a fun Family Night!!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

I set up a shelf with what we call "Table Toys". The boys have been doing so well with it! They pick something off the shelf, sit down and then put it away when they are done! I have to remind Drake sometimes but I am really surprised at how well they are doing with it!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

I'm sure most of you Mommies out there already have a baby food system worked out but just in case there are a few that don't, I thought I would post about how I do it:)

About a month before Jack started solid I started looking for fruits and Veggies that were on major sales. I would buy a big bag and prepare them according to this sites directions. I then put them in the freezer in ice cube trays. When they are frozen I put them in bags and write the the name of the food and the Date that made it. Some foods I only fill the ice cube half because I use them as add ins, like blueberry and broccoli.

Here are some of the reasons I like doing it this way.

I can prepare just a little bit at a time if needed

I can make fun combos...ie (jack's fave is 2 peach cubes, 1 blueberry and a little oatmeal)

Just a little warning to this post. My boys are still really young so I only use the "work books" when it is their idea and they really want to work on them. So far they have asked several times but if they lose interest then that is fine with me.

I bought book from Costco and I really like it. Some of the things in it Caden really enjoys and other things are a bit out of his reach. Because I don't want to have to buy another book for Drake when he is ready for it I came up with "Work Books".I bought two of these folders. I knew when Drake saw Caden's that he would want one too so I got him one. We decorated them with stickers!!I filled each of their books with page protectors and then inserted only the pages that I thought would be good for them. Caden's has colors right now and Drake has letters and numbers.The boys use dry erase markers to complete the activities. Or in Drake's case scribble and flip the pages. It's great because they can do them over and over!

Monday, August 24, 2009

First of all I was my little sister's birthing coach. She is the one I made this for. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!! I've had three C-sections so this was a totally new thing for me and she did so amazing!!!! After all of her hard work Her beautiful Zoey Belle was born!!

The other thing that has me busy is feeding little Jack solids! He loves them but it is still one more thing I have to do each day:) More on that later:)

Saturday, August 22, 2009

I found this link on an other blog and it is too cool! You get ten dollars of free food delivered strait to your door! I ordered stuffed shells for 9.99 and I only have to pay 2 cents when it is delivered! And I can pay cash so I just have to have 2 pennies ready on Monday:) How cool! Here's the link if anyone else wants to try it!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Baby Giggles I've had this game for the boys for about a year and I love it. It locks out the keyboard so that whatever key they press it makes something fun happen. I really like how when they press the letters on the key board the actual letters show up on the screen. Caden likes to press the letters and watch them pop up.

Here is a video of Drake! He loves being aloud to use the computer:) Usually I'm telling him to stay away form it:)

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

We are in a new apartment now while we wait to hear about our house and the apartment has a ton of space compared to the one bedroom we were staying in at my Dad's house. With all the space now I can finally have a reading corner! And even better... The boys love it! Yesterday I heard Caden say " Come on Drakey, let's go read!" and they both went to the reading corner to read together. Those are the moments that keep me sane and help me remember that it is all worth it:) Caden's 1 shoe:) lol

If you are like me you buy toilet paper in bulk at Costco:) Well we had just bought a very bulky bag of it and Caden had started to rip open the bag. At first I was going to have him help me put them in the cabinet(which he loves to do) but then I thought they would make fun building blocks. So we built towers and pyramids. That was fun but then the boys started knocking them over so I started tyring to build little tower really fast all over the room and they would chase after me and knock them all over. That was really fun but then Nate got home and we decided to play a defense game. One of us would build as fast as we could and the other would try and keep the boys at bay. If we were successful then we would let the boys run and knock it down. Then Nate started building towers between his legs and fending the boys off all by himself!

After that we just started throwing them at each other. Here's Caden bracing himself for the one coming right at him! This was SO MUCH FUN for all of us. We played for at least an hour!

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Welcome

I am a stay at home/work from home mom of four boys and a little girl ages 6-11. I am a professional photographer for newborns-1 year. I am currently Homeschooling all 5 of my children! My blog is called "Little Hands, Big Work" because every time a little hand starts playing they are really learning and working. Playing becomes learning and learning becomes growing, and isn't that what life is all about? I plan to post about activities, food, organization, parenting tips and more for babies all the way to preteens.

I helped my sister make a cake for my sons 5th Birthday:) It was so simple to put together and he loved that he got to play with all of ...

Qualifications

I earned my Associates degree with most of my classes being in early childhood education. I was a preschool teacher for 3 1/2 years before I left to be a stay at home Mom and I have been loving it! I have now taught preschool from home for 4 years:)